Fake Ghost Pictures

Faking Rods

In the world of paranormal investigations, a fake ghost picture is easier to find than the real thing. Learn how these images can be created to fool the public.

A fake picture of the rod phenomenon is very easy to make. Given the fact that nobody really knows what causes this anomaly, it's very easy to place fakes on any photo. You can create a picture like the one of the rod shown here by using Photoshop. The fact that it has a solid background as well as being fairly large gives it away. Authentic proof usually comes from rods captured on video.

Image With Fake Rod

This is the same rod from the previous picture. This photo has a little more manipulation. It's harder to tell that it's a fake because it's within the frame of a real photo. You can use this same method to create an orb. You merely create a new layer in photoshop, make a thin rectangle and then fill it with white using an opacity around 80% and a fill of 60%. With the object still selected, you then feather it by 10, inverse the selection and delete. Once you deselect everything, you're left with a rod. You can then change the orientation of the rod if you like.

Ghost Makes Appearance...

This fake image is also very easy to make, and it typically appears very real at the same time. To produce it, you take a photo of a hallway and open it in photoshop. Create a new layer and use a soft brush with black color to make a black blob at 80% opacity. Run the plastic wrap filter that comes with Photoshop, and with minimal tweaking you have an interesting ghost image. Does this mean that real ghosts can't be caught on camera? Of course not - it just means that you should be wary of them as proof.

Fake Ghost Picture of Shadow Man

In this image, you can see a creepy, shadowy figure standing under an archway. It looks real enough, and if you'd print it you probably couldn't tell it was fake. In essence, a real picture is used and then masked with a color overlay. It's then cut and pasted to the arch, and manipulated to look natural.

Image Used to Fake Shadow

This was the image that was used to create the shadow figure. To produce this effect, use the lasso tool in photoshop and trace around the person. Once you have that selected, you can cut and paste it to a new image. Add a black color overlay, and use other filters to make shades, fuzz out and blur the outline, decrease opacity and make fuzzy outlines in order to make it appear more natural. Once you're done, you just have to flatten the image.

Wispy Shadow

There are times that shadows in ghost pictures don't have a human form, but instead appear as wisps of smoke. This photo looks real enough, but it can be faked by drawing a thick black line with some waves in it, and using a feathered brush. Use your filtering tools to widen it, make it hazy and decrease opacity.

Mist

Mist is a fairly common paranormal experience, but fake ghost pictures of mist are also very easy to create. Take a photo and add a blur effect to it. Next, create a layer and using a smoke brush, add a slight glow and then flatten the image. The final result looks like the camera was focusing on the mist and not on the subject.

Face in an Object

Capturing a face in an object, on a mirror or in a window occurs often in ghost hunting, and they aren't always fake pictures. Just take them with a grain of salt. In all actuality, the picture here is legitimate. It is an optical illusion using shadows and texture. The picture was made by pulling a plastic curtain toward the camera with a light in the background, plus a flash on the camera. From there a sepia filter was applied to give it more depth. Never put much faith in still photography. The real proof comes from finding a ghost caught on video.